It’s that time of year again – time for tech sites and armchair theoreticians to hypothesize on the next iteration of the iPhone, and everything that comes with it. This year, there are a lot of rumors that have been pretty much repeated by a variety of sites: there will allegedly be three different versions of the phone, with the super high-end version having an all-glass, curved OLED display. And there are various reports and rumors that on that model, Apple will ditch the home button.
One rumor, though, has some people reeling. Wall Street Journal has claimed that in the iPhone 8, Apple will ditch its proprietary Lightning port for a universal USB type-C. Apple introduced Lightning back in 2012, replacing the 30-pin dock connector previously used on the company’s iPods and iPhone devices.
However, right now, the MacBook, the MacBook Pro, and the MacBook Pro with TouchBar all only have USB-C ports. And it’s become the butt of jokes that you have to have a special USB to Lightning connector just to connect your phone to your laptop.
In that regard, it would make sense for Apple to finally match their laptop connectors with the ones for their phones, but Gizmodo in particular really isn’t having any of it. They write:
It just seems absurd to think Apple would replace that entire ecosystem after just five years. Of course, that in and of itself isn’t a reason to disbelieve this rumor. Apple is a company that will do what it thinks is the best for its products and its bottom line. If that means eviscerating an entire port and putting accessory makers in a weird position of having to make new gear and gear for the billion people who already have a Lightning port gadget, so be it.
As with any Apple rumor, there’s really no telling until it’s officially announced. But either way, either it will change for the better or it won’t change at all. At least it’s not getting any worse.